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Aircraft History
Built by Aichi in early April 1943.
Wartime
History
Abandoned at Ballale
Airfield with the engine removed.
Wreckage
Remained at Ballale near the landing area undisturbed until 1968. A tree impact had dented the spine of the tail.
Recovery
Recovered by Robert
Diemert in 1698. This Val was cut into components. Removed along with: A6M2 3471, A6M2
CN? and a D3A2 3178, in addition to
other Zero parts from other wrecks.
Transported to Port
Moresby to await export. Stored for a month near Jackson Airport. The relics were left in a pile until a deal was setup with the Canadian Air
Force to transport them aboard a Hercules back to Canada in the
middle of January 1969.
Restoration
This was the first of the recovered aircraft to be restored by Robert
Diemert at his home in Carman, Canada.
Rebuilt using a Wright R-2600 radial engine.
First Flight
When the Val first flew on November 22, 1969 it was not yet registered or cleared with Transport Canada. Transportation Canada had RCMP officers present at Diemert's private airfield to arrest him when he was going to land after the flight, Instead, he flew about 20 miles to the RCAF base at nearby Portage la Prairie and landing there. Being a military base, Transport Canada had no authority and could not arrest him. Diemert reported getting the plane to 260 knots, but felt that it was capable of 325. He said: "It handled like a big AT-6. Heavy on the controls, but "quite speedy and very maneuverable, of course."
Display
Later, he flew the aircraft to Ottawa and delivered it to Canadian
National Aviation Museum, in return
for the transportation services of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), for transporting the wreckage from Port Moresby in January 1969.
In 1991, Canadian
National Aviation Museum traded to the Planes of Fame
Museum,
for a helicopter with Canadian provenance.
Today, it is displayed
at Planes of Fame
Museum restoration hanger,
in a partially restored state. No immediate timetable for further restoration
is planned, although the museum does expect to re-restore the
plane at some point in the future.
References
"Serial Number & Production Sequence D3A2 Carrier Bombers" by Jim Long. Thanks to Ryan Toews, Mark Foster and Edward Maloney for additional information
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Last Updated
October 1, 2009
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